Over 500 Calcuttans from various walks of life joined hands and hit the streets on Thursday evening to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, passed by Parliament a day before.

Armed with torches and posters and raising slogans, the rally started from the Park Circus seven-point intersection around 7.30pm.

One of the striking features of the rally was the number of young men and women. At the forefront was a group of three friends from St Xavier’s College. “This bill is a gross violation of human rights. We are Indians and don’t have to prove our nationality to anyone,” said Alayka Aftab, a third-year student of sociology.

Standing beside Alayka was her classmate, Nitisha Lakra. “I come from a minority tribe. I know what being discriminated against feels like. This bill is a ploy to break us apart,” the Tollygunge resident said.

Banani Ghosh, who studies political science at the Park Street institution, was at the rally to show “unflinching support for her many Muslim friends”.

The rally was organised by the Joint Action Committee For Social Justice — which had led the Justice for Rohith (Vemula) campaign after the suicide of the PhD student because of alleged caste excesses — and Save Democracy Forum.

“We decided to organise the rally on Wednesday night. The word spread on social media. Over 500 people have turned up at such short notice. It shows the city stands against the divisive bill,” said Amitava Chakraborty, the secretary of the committee.

He stressed that the rally was not a political forum and comprised mostly “ordinary citizens who are interested in bread and butter issues”.

As he spoke, the slogans kept getting louder. A young woman shouted: “Modi-Shah ki tanashahi (The autocracy of Modi-Shah)”. The crowd thundered back: “Nahi chalegi (wont work)”. One poster read: “India needs education and jobs, not CAB and NRC”. Another read: “No to two-nation theory”.

The rally started at the Park Circus Maidan and ended at the footstep of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue on Mayo Road.

For Faiz Anwar, “yeh sabki ladai hai (this is everybody’s fight)”. The chartered accountant, a former student of St James’ School and St Xavier’s College, grew up in the company of Hindu friends.

“Many of my clients are Hindu businessmen. My daughter (a student of Pratt Memorial School) went to a Hindu friend’s birthday party yesterday (Wednesday). But this bill threatens to tear apart the secular principle enshrined in the Constitution. This has to be protested, not just by one community but everybody,” he said.